MATLAB script files contain one or more commands, such as variable assignments, function calls, etc. Script files differ from declaration files such as those declaring function’s or classdef’s. When working with script files, you typically focus your efforts on a single part of your code at a time, working with the code and related text in sections. You demarcate sections using ”%% description” header comments.
An example of a script file is basic_script.m:
%% First section
a = 1;
b = 2;
%% Second section
c = a + b;
disp(['c = ', num2str(c)]);When you visit a script.m file, you will have a MATLAB -> Code Sections menu. Help from within Emacs is available from “MATLAB -> Code Sections -> Help” menu item. You can use the menu or key bindings to modify or run your script.
C-c C-SPC Mark/select section. C-c C-<up> Move point backward to the prior "% section" C-c C-<down> Move point forward to the next "% section" C-c C-<left> Move point to the beginning of the current "%% section" C-c C-<right> Move point to the end of the current "%% section" C-c M-<up> Move the current "%% section" up C-c M-<down> Move the current "%% section" down C-c C-<return> Run the current "%% section" C-c M-<return> Run all "%% sections" prior to the current section
Sections are run using the *MATLAB* shell buffer created using M-x matlab-shell on Unix and the
attached MATLAB using the matlab netshell on Windows. When a section is run, you will see in the
MATLAB Command Window:
emacsrunregion('/path/to/your/script.m', startChar, endChar)
<text displayed by your script.m>
The sections are run asynchronously. After sending the emacsrunregion command to MATLAB, control is returned to Emacs. In MATLAB, you’ll see the “>>” prompt reappear when emacsrunregion is complete.
You can use examples/matlab-sections/tryout_matlabsection.m to tryout MATLAB code section support in Emacs.
If you’d like to use super (aka Windows) key bindings instead of the above key bindings, you can
M-x customize-variable RET matlab-sections-use-super-key RET